Sunday, August 7, 2011

Swim analysis

I saw a Facebook ad about half a year ago which advertised to triathletes who wanted to improve their swimming. Im a really slow swimmer, and when I'm ocean swimming, I'm totally shark bait because then whole group has taken off, and I'm way behind paddling along.

I looked up the company and it is a physical therapy office that has a swim clinic http://www.thinkpt.net/ in Tusin, CA. I've been wanting to do it, but just didnt have enough time. I knew once I went to the clinic, I would need to dedicate lots of practice and training based on what they taught me.
So finally this summer I had a chance to go, and totally loved it.

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Two-time Olympian, Kaitlin Sandeno, who participated in the Athens & Sydney games and won 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze, and was a world record holder, is one of our instructors

Kaitlin was so helpful.
you start off with a video of how you currently swim, and she then suggests ways to improve and correct.
The rest of the session you practice and film, and see how you improve. From my first video to my last, I had a lot of improvement!

When I saw my first video, it was horrifying! I had such ugly form! My arms and legs are flailing all over the place, my head wasn't in the right spot, and my arms, god knows what they were trying to do. It's quite amazing seeing yourself because you really have no idea how you look. To me, I thought I had great form, well.. Not great, but not as bad as what the video revealed.

The most helpful tip was she really taught me how to "catch" the water and where my elbows should be. I always thought I was doing it right, but I was really wrong. I've read so many articles about "catch" and "elbows" and now it all finally makes sense!

She also advised that when I'm swimming correctly, my under arms to my back muscles should be sore. That means I'm using the right muscles and "catching" the water.

Im so excited to practice and hopefully be a faster swimmer, and no longer "shark-bait".

1 comment:

  1. that sounds awesome and i want to do it now!!!!

    ReplyDelete